Pearl reloading roster with top-tier talent

Broome, who is from Plant City, Fla., will arrive on the Plains with three seasons of eligibility after choosing the Tigers over the Florida Gators along with Kentucky, Duke, Gonzaga, Houston, Louisville and Memphis.

The Tigers have room for another signee and are strongly in the mix with five-star high school senior Julian Phillips, who said he was impressed with the program and AU’s campus after taking an official visit last week. 

Phillips, who is 6-8, 200 pounds, is rated as the No. 2 power forward prospect in the 2022 class by 247Sports as well as the No. 12 overall prospect. Phillips played for Link Academy in Branson, Mo., as a senior and his hometown is Blythewood, S.C.

The Tigers have already lined up an impressive signee class that includes point guard Tre Donaldson, who was named player of the year in Florida, and four star forward/guard Chance Westry. Adding Phillips to the mix would make it one of the more impressive classes in program history.

It wasn’t a big surprise that cornerback Roger McCreary was selected early in the second round of this year’s NFL Draft. An NFL scout told me that pro teams appreciated his all-around athletic ability, mental toughness and on the field performances.

It also wasn’t a surprise that McCreary was the only Auburn player chosen with AU’s other hopefuls looking to make rosters as free agents. Several of his teammates might have been late-round draft picks, but instead they will try to make pro rosters as free agents, something guys like Brodarious Hamm, Zakoby McClain and Smoke Monday have the potential to do.

The 2023 draft will likely end with a much larger number of Tigers picked. Some of the better possibilities include running back Tank Bigsby, defensive linemen Derick Hall, Eku Leota and Colby Wooden, linebacker Owen Pappoe, tight end John Samuel Shenker, cornerbacks Nehemiah Pritchett and Jaylin Simpson along with offensive linemen Keiondre Jones  and Kilian Zierer.

It’s NCAA Tournament time for the AU women’s and men’s tennis teams. For just the third time in program history the women will be a regional host. Coach Caroline Lilley’s Tigers will play at noon on Friday at Yarbrough Tennis vs. 17-6 Jackson State, the SWAC champion. Auburn, which is 20-5 and the SEC runnerup, is the No. 13 national seed in the 64-team tournament.

If the Tigers win they will play at noon on Saturday vs. the winner of Memphis (20-6) and Georgia Tech (14-10). With a roster featuring three first team All-SEC players Auburn has a great chance to win its regional and advance to the tournament’s Sweet 16.

AU’s men will hit the courts at the exact same time when they play at Winston-Salem, N.C., in the Wake Forest Tennis Center vs. 14-11 Texas Tech. Coach Bobby Reynolds, who led the Tigers to the semi-finals of the SEC Tournament, has a team ranked 24th nationally with a 20-10 record. The winner of that matchup will likely play No. 9 national seed Wake Forest (31-6), which should be able to handle Big South champion Radford (14-7).

It’s been a good year for AU tennis with a chance to get even better this weekend.

Mark Murphy is the editor of Inside the Auburn Tigers magazine and newsletter.